The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (190721).VOLUME XVI. Early National Literature, Part II; Later National Literature, Part I.

XXIII. Writers of Familiar Verse.

§ 6. Novels.

Such also is the interest of his three novels; they appeal to those who relish the flavour of Holmess personality rather than to those who expect a work of fiction to be first of all a story, and secondly a story peopled with accusable characters. In one of the prefaces to Elsie Venner Holmes cited the remark of a dear old lady who spoke of the tale as a medicated novel; and he declared that he was always pleased with her discriminating criticism. It is not unfair to say that all three novels were conceived by a physician and composed by an essayist. Holmes, so Leslie Stephen asserted, lacked the essential quality of an inspired novelist, which is to get absorbed in his story and to feel as though he were watching instead of contriving the development of a situation.